Critters were moving...a fun calling trip!

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I headed out early Friday to hunt the desert for the day. The plan was to hunt my way out to meet my buddy and his son at their campsite in the evening, camp there and then hunt our way home on Saturday.

The wind started blowing at my first stand and nothing showed. By the time I got to my second spot, it was blowing 25 mph. It's usually a good spot, so I set up and started calling, even though I had little confidence in anything showing up. I wasn't paying attention and nearly got run over by a coyote. By the time I got on him, he was out at 125-yards and dipping into ravines and brush. A quick shot went right over his back. Not the way to start the trip.

At stand number four, another fairly regular spot, I was just sitting down when I realized I forgot my glasses in the truck 400-yards away. I decided to call the steep canyon anyway. I do two series on the Dan Thompson PC-3, about two minutes apart. At about the five minute mark I glanced down and there's a coyote staring at me 15-feet in front of me. He takes off, but I'm able to stop him on the other side of the ravine at 150-yards and I drop him there with the AR 15.

The terrain
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Coyote number 1
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I slowly start making my way out to the campsite, making a few empty stands. I pull into a new area and find a great looking spot to end the day. It's still a bit windy, so I grab the FX5 for this stand. With the caller about 40-yards in front blaring some rabbit-through-a-wood-chipper sound, I catch movement on my right slowly trotting through the thick brush. He checks up five feet from the caller and I drop him there. Two minutes later, A second larger coyote comes in walking from the left. He's just standing there staring at the caller. I drop him there. A nice double to end the Friday hunt.

Ten feet from the call.
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The double
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Three for the day
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I have dinner at my buddies campsite and we make plans to hunt quail the next day. After an awesome steak dinner, we call it a day.

The next day, I decided to hit the hunt early and make a few stands. The first stand was a blank and on the way to one of my regular shotgun stands, I kick up some quail. One shot, one bird, before the covey disappears.

I switched my shotgun choke to a Carlton Dead Coyote and set up in the thick stuff. After about 12-minutes of nothing moving, I was about to stand up when I catch a flash of fur cutting through the brush. The coyote appears 15-feet in front of me. I draw for his neck and he looks my way just as I shoot. He catches the entire load in the face.

Shotgun stand with the coyote to the left.
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Coyote number 4
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A bonus quail
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We chased a thin quail heard for a bit, had lunch and then headed home. I love it when critters are moving.


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This post is nominated for Hunter of the Month. Sorry, the nifty little .gif isn't rotating, so all you see is "Nominated" for now.
 
Great looking country. Wish we could gain a bit of elevation down here. Thanks for taking us along on your hunt!

Regards,
hm
 
Is that Nevada? Anyway nice pics and sounds like you had a lot of fun. I finally get to get out there next week and am looking forward to it.
 
Holy crap that’s close quarters no wonder you pack a shotgun. Looks like good country to explore. Thanks for sharing
 
In reality, all coyotes could've been taken with a shotgun on this trip. Guaranteed if I was toting the shotgun on stand number 2, I would've added that first coyote to the tally.
 
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